The Physical Image : Social Media And Body Image

A body image is a subjective combination of all the thoughts, emotions, and judgments that an individual may perceive about his or her own body. Each individual has a unique perception of his or her own body. This image is strongly influenced and often times skewed due to the increasing pressure created from outside, societal factors. With a world that is continuously creating new forms of social media and entertainment, individuals are constantly exposed to images that supposedly define bodily perfection and are then expected to resemble these images in order to fit in and/or please society. The expectations that have been put in place by society has created unwanted pressure on individuals who feel as if they need to resemble these images to get society’s approval.

“ Over fifty percent of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet(3), even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only 18 percent of adolescents are really overweight. About 80 percent of girls in this age group say that they have dieted in an attempt to lose weight.”--Mirror Mirror Eating Disorder Help. Unrealistic body images on social media can lead to eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression in adolescents.

Ones body is a physical aspect that sets each individual apart from another.Body image is how one perceives their body visually, body image is determined by how one thinks and talks about their body along with how they feel others view their bodies. Body image is large part of society “74.4% of normal weight women stated that they thought about their weight or appearance “all the time” or “frequently.” Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular media, barraging women with images that portray what is considered to be the "ideal body." Such standards of beauty are almost completely unattainable for most women; a majority of the models displayed on television and in advertisements are well below what is considered healthy body weight.

“Girls of all kind can be beautiful—from the thin, plus-sized, short, very tall, ebony to porcelain- skinned; the quirky, clumsy, shy, outgoing and all in between. It’s not easy though because many people still put beauty into a confining, narrow box.. think outside the box.. pledge that you will look in the mirror and find a unique you”-Tyra Banks. This quotes explains that all women should admire their body and understand that your body is beautiful. In society women Body Image has played a major role over the years. In today’s society the media, education and health have made an large impacted on a woman’s body image.

Femininity, on the other hand, is defined as the attributes and nature of the female sex (Merriam Webster/Femininity). Related words to femininity include “girlishness”, “womanhood”, “effeteness”, and “womanly” (Merriam Webster/Femininity). When images for “femininity” are researched, most depict beautiful, perfectly made up, extremely skinny women wearing pink clothing with long, flowing hair. This photo description is social media’s ideal body image for woman. Because of this, sixty nine percent of girls in fifth through twelfth grade reported that pictures on certain types of social media influenced their perception of the ideal body image and forty seven percent of girls in that same age group reported feeling pressure to lose weight because of a picture seen on a certain type of social media (ANAD). This perception often leads to eating disorders in young women (Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders). About three percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime (ANAD), and social media may influence the development of many cases.

Body image is defined as the subjective picture or mental image of one's own body, which greatly differs among fit and unfit individuals. Body image has a powerful affect on all. “Negative body image has grown to almost epidemic proportions in the past 20 years, with as many as 60 percent of adults in national

Many theories have been presented on how the media is the most pervasive source in shaping our perception of body image. As presented by the author Kasey L. Serdar in the Article, Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard, the media can consciously or unconsciously affect our vision of the ideal body through, mainly displaying women who meet the socialcultural standard of beauty, or by simply referring to the represented ideal body image as a reference point in constructing their objective body. This controlling source affects us to the extent of changing; our culture's perception by creating a society obsessed with appearance, our economy

Everyone wants to be beautiful. What is beauty nowadays? Is it flawless skin, long blonde hair, and skinny waist and thighs? This is what beauty is for most women. Beauty is very predominant in a women’s world. People have their own perception of beauty, but we are all heavily influenced by society as well as the media. The things that the media inculcates into our minds are the things that we contemplate very often. Every time we see a celebrity or a model on television or a magazine we want to be just like them. Sadly, we cannot be like them, as much as we tried. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and we cannot define beauty based on what the media portrays even though many women do so. The media has a negative effect on women and throughout the years we have been trying to have that “ideal” body according to the media through surgical enhancements and many other things, which causes eating disorders and a low self-esteem.

“From children's toys to TV programs, images of the idealized body have permeated every level of our visual culture” (Swinson). As the Advertisement industry continues to grow, the focus on looks is increasing as well. With around half of the advertisements using beauty as an appeal to sell their products(Teen Health and the Media), the pressures to be 'perfect' are causing women to become dissatisfied with their looks, driving them to turn to unhealthy measures. The average teenage girl gets a significantly greater amount of media time each day compared to the amount of time they spend with their parents, this is usually around 180 minutes of media per ten minutes spent with their parents (Heubeck). With so much time spent on media

In today’s society, the public is exposed to technology at even younger ages than ever before. Everywhere you go these days you see kids even as little as three holding their parent’s phones or even their own, watching videos or playing games. But as said in the article Does Social media impact on body image by Philippa Roxby, as kids start becoming teenagers their technological uses advance and they start to rely on social media sites for new sources of communication, and their main channel to the outside world. Based on studies conducted by psychologists they have come up with a conclusion that social media has a direct relationship to body image concerns. I believe that in today’s society we should focus on promoting self-confidence as most of the adolescents have a very low assurance of their own bodies. Although a study conducted in the article The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all bad for kids by Kelly Wallace says that a survey which resulted in 52% of the teens saying that social media positively influences them. Even though social media platforms have some beneficial aspects such as they make people want to go on diets, exercise, and eating healthy, the teenagers don’t really look/understand the negative aspects of it. The impacts that are carried with social media are mostly negative such as fancying teenagers to lose confidence in themselves and has become a toxic mirror to them. The visual platforms impact

In today’s society, social media has increased drastically and has become an essential part of many individuals’ lives. Unfortunately, studies show that social media negatively impacts women’s perceptions about their own beauty and self-worth; research shows that the media portrays beauty as an unrealistic standard, and due to this, women are suffering from negative body images (Cash & Henry, 1995). From models and celebrities to magazines and billboards, unnatural beauty ideals are emphasized to women everywhere. Although they are unrealistic, society has managed to push them on women and make them feel like being natural is not acceptable. Part of the issue is that media does not portray women of all types, shapes, colors, and forms as “beautiful” (Patton, 2006). Furthermore, an inequality in the beauty standards between males and females must be addressed in order to combat the harmful injustices caused by the unequal expectations of beauty of the sexes.

Once upon a time, social media sites were a platform to stay connected with on another but over the years they have changed as a place to compare one another. Lydia Davies, author of the book “Raw, the diary of an anorexic”, in her blog post “The negative effect of (social) media on body image” explores the negative effects social media has on one’s body image. Davies develops this idea by sharing her personal battles with eating disorders, relating to all girls on an emotional level, and mentioning Instagram famous, Essena O’Neil, who told society the truth about her pictures on social media. Her purpose is to make her readers aware of the dangerous mental and physical problems that social media can cause. She establishes a relaxed relationship with the readers of her blog who might be struggling with their body image due to social media.

Social media plays a big role in how young females view their body image today. According to Perloff (2014), a Professor of Communications at Cleveland State University, “Social media and contemporary digital technologies are the playing field of today’s youth, places where lessons are learned, attitudes are formed, and body image concerns can be cultivated and metastasized into convictions” (p. 373). Female teens are getting social media accounts at younger ages than ever before and they do not know about the negative effects social media can have on their body image. I did not get social media accounts until I was in high school because I did not want them and I am glad I did not get them any earlier because I know I would have been more worried about my body image than I was. I was worried about my body image a little in middle school, but in high school more because peers in high school are mean, everyone is trying to fit in, and no one wants to be told they are fat by their peers. I would have spent too much time on social media trying to fix myself than going to hang out with my friends.

The best way to solve a problem is to know exactly what the issue is. So what is body image? Body image is, “How individuals feel about their physical appearances” (Brown University 1). Body image can be affected by more than one media outlet. These outlets include the traditional media like magazines and TV shows. However, new outlets have been introduced like social media, this media can be so damaging because it is easily accessible to all types of people from ranging ages.

Media is all around us; it is part of our everyday lives. Whether we are at school, work, doctors’ appointments, media is